Minimum Wage

The San Antonio City Council will vote today on a new $2.5 budget that includes an increase in the minimum wage paid to city employees. The increase was among last minute adjustments made to the proposed budget.

The call for $15 as a minimum wage for city of San Antonio employees is being renewed again as the city nears a vote on its annual budget next week.

Leaders with COPS / Metro Alliance, like Sister Gabriella Lohan took to the steps of city hall Friday asking city council members to continue increases in city employee wages to a $15 minimum. “We know that people need to be respected and nothing shows more respect that a decent wage,” she said.

It started as an experiment - community organizing in San Antonio's low income, underserved neighborhoods. It ended up shaking up the city - and giving voice to the many forgotten working families in the city. People who didn't have drainage, paved streets or sidewalks, people who lacked access to water and even less access to economic opportunities. For the last 40 years Communities Organized for Public Service COPS was at the center of many of the fights at city hall, but does the city today still need COPS?

The same day the Service Employee International Union (SEIU) was scheduled to launch a campaign to push the city to raise pay for 3000 to $15 an hour, city officials proposed raising the hourly pay to $13 across the board.

The city budget for the next fiscal year is introduced this week.

COPS/Metro Alliance, a nonprofit advocacy group based in San Antonio, has been trying to get the wage lifted to this rate for more than a year. They first pushed at the County Level last summer.

The federal minimum wage has been $7.25 since 2009. That amount, or something less for exempted positions, is what 3.3 million Americans earn per her hour across the country. Many believe it is time to raise the minimum wage to a livable wage, or a wage that raises a person out of poverty.